Essex County to review cases by embattled defense lawyer Paul Bergrin

ESSEX -- County Prosecutor Paula Dow said today her office plans to review dozens of cases handled by Paul Bergrin, the prominent defense lawyer charged this week with intimidating and plotting to kill witnesses, to determine whether any should be reopened.

Bergrin, who has represented some of Newark's most notorious street gang members, was accused in federal court Wednesday of derailing prosecutions by silencing those scheduled to testify against his clients. According to a 14-count indictment, he helped arrange the murder of one witness, enlisted a hit man hoping to kill a second and encouraged others to lie to authorities or flee.

Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerEssex County Prosecutor Paula Dow at a press conference on Feb. 22, 2009 in Verona. Dow said today her office plans to review cases handled by Paul Bergrin, the prominent defense lawyer charged with intimidating and plotting to kill witnesses.

Federal authorities have identified at least eight of Bergrin's cases in Superior Court in Essex County in which witnesses were killed or allegedly paid or coached to lie. Dow said prosecutors will examine those cases along with dozens of others involving Bergrin, paying closest attention to those that were dismissed.

"We want to see if there is merit to reopen any investigations," she said.

Bergrin has 59 cases pending in Superior Court in Essex County, and an additional 11 of his clients are awaiting sentencing, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for Dow. Prosecutors will also review his closed cases but have not yet determine how many, Dow said.

Sarah Rice/For The Star-LedgerA 2007 photo of Paul W. Bergrin, a high-profile criminal defense attorney in who was indicted for allegedly plotting to murder witnesses scheduled to testify against his clients.

Loriquet said the reviews will begin within weeks.

Bergrin has been a defense lawyer since the early 1990s and was arrested along with three others, including fellow attorney Thomas Moran, whose cases Dow said will also be reviewed. They face numerous charges, including witness tampering, racketeering, mortgage fraud and murdering a federal witness.

The murder charge stems from the 2004 slaying of an FBI informant who was supposed to testify against one of Bergrin's clients. Prosecutors say Bergrin disclosed the informant's identity to drug dealers who gunned him down on a Newark street.

Wednesday's indictment also accuses Bergrin of trying to hire a hit man from Chicago to kill at least one witness in a Monmouth County drug case. The slaying never transpired because the hit man was a government informant, authorities said.

If convicted of murder, Bergrin could face the death penalty, authorities said.

Bergrin's lawyer, Gerald Shargel, has said his client will plead not guilty.

The federal charges against the one-time Army major come two weeks after he pleaded guilty in New York to helping run an exclusive Manhattan call-girl ring.

Bergrin, 53, has built a reputation as a hard-charging and brash defense lawyer. His clients have included Queen Latifah, rap mogul Lil' Kim, a soldier convicted of mistreating detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and a former Mrs. New Jersey accused of bouncing more than $70,000 in checks.

But much of his work has been defending those accused of drug deals, shootings and murders on the streets of Essex County.

Dow stressed reviewing Bergrin's cases would be a slow process. Many of the cases are old. And it could be challenging in many instances to reopen them, she said.

In two of the cases cited by federal authorities, key witnesses were executed. They were outlined in a sworn statement filed by prosecutors urging U.S. District Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo to detain Bergrin without bail.

Bergrin is not charged in either death.

The first occurred in 2004, when an alleged witness to a fatal shooting was executed on a Newark street. A second witness then recanted her story. Within months, Dow's office dropped the murder charges against Bergrin's client, Alquan Loyal.

In 2005, Bergrin asked Essex County prosecutors to drop murder charges against another of his clients after a key witness, Syreeta Lee, was killed.

"The only witness was Syreeta Lee," Bergrin said at the time. "She is now dead. So there is no other evidence against my client."

The defendant, James Dawson, was eventually acquitted of murder but convicted of illegally possessing a weapon and wounding an innocent bystander.

Bergrin spent five years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Newark and an assistant Essex County prosecutor. Dow and acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra said they did not intend to review the cases he prosecuted.